[Impulse]

Vocals (female) just sounded off to me when I tried out the DJ100 today, which is what made me suspect about how they were being driven and whatnot (in addition to the bass, tho I definitely didn't expect gobs of that based on reviews). I thought they had forward mids... Maybe it was a seal issue? I had glasses and a baseball cap on, not to mention long-ish hair and big ears... They were comfy tho, my ears touch a lot of the pad on the inside and whatnot but none of that really bothered me. OTOH they definitely didn't isolate well since nearby music made it hard to give them a good listen at one point. Can't say whether the Downtowns isolated any better tho since I don't think I had as much ambient noise going when I tried those.

 

[Zombie_X]

Hi,
 
No you are correct. The mids are colored in a way that makes female vocals sound a bit hollow. I've noticed that female and male vocals sound a bit pushed back, but guitars and other string instruments are more forward. It has nothing to do with amping them at all. 
 
Quote:

Vocals (female) just sounded off to me when I tried out the DJ100 today, which is what made me suspect about how they were being driven and whatnot (in addition to the bass, tho I definitely didn't expect gobs of that based on reviews). I thought they had forward mids... Maybe it was a seal issue? I had glasses and a baseball cap on, not to mention long-ish hair and big ears... They were comfy tho, my ears touch a lot of the pad on the inside and whatnot but none of that really bothered me. OTOH they definitely didn't isolate well since nearby music made it hard to give them a good listen at one point. Can't say whether the Downtowns isolated any better tho since I don't think I had as much ambient noise going when I tried those.

 

[Impulse]

Hi,

No you are correct. The mids are colored in a way that makes female vocals sound a bit hollow. I've noticed that female and male vocals sound a bit pushed back, but guitars and other string instruments are more forward. It has nothing to do with amping them at all. 

Interesting, I wasn't expecting that but I guess it's good to know I'm not imagining things. Guess they're just not for me... I certainly didn't find them offensive tho, just not wowed by them either. I really wanted to like them more, I've always enjoyed my KSC 75 & 55 (their only good looking porta pro based variant! shame they killed it and the rotating clips had a tendency to pinch), and I really liked the build quality on these (DJ100). They're easily built tougher than most others under $150 I think.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Hi,
 
They are not even worth their full retail IMO. Saying they are some of the best under $300 is a stretch indeed. The T70 is vastly, vastly superior in every way. I can understand it if one loves the signature that much, but there's no way that their SQ is worth that. I think priced at $50-$60 is perfect. Also the M50 pads aren't cheap and they don't improve the sound that much to warrant spending $30 on them. 
 
IMO the DJ100 requires absolutely no amping at all. They are highly efficient and are 38Ohms. They get loud on everything I own and sound great, even from my old Blackberry Curve. Claiming they need an amp scares away people and I just don't agree with that. There isn't much change at all when amped. If anything a $20 CMOY is more than enough. 
 
I've heard the Citiscape and find it to be the better headphone all around. It's a warmer signature but it's more detailed and resolving with a bigger soundstage. Some might not agree and that's fine, but it's on honest opinion.
 
So here's my say, I'd pay no more than $50-$60 for the DJ100. Anything more than that and you're wasting money. They aren't worth $75 in the long run not are they the best under $100. The KRK KNS-6400 is the best under $100 IMO and stomps the DJ100 into the dirt.
 
Just my take though.
 
 

For the record I never said I'd pay $300 for them, but just that i've yet to hear anything under $300 closed I like more. I'm on a mission to hear it, but i've had no luck. I will say it's my favorite headphone regardless of price. If I had to pick between all my headphones i'd keep this one. Well, the HD-600 is more comfortable. You would have to absolutely love every single thing about their signature for them to sound this good to you.
 
Have you had a headphone that sounded like someone took your absolutely favorite sound signature and made a headphone for you? That's what the DJ100 is for me. This is incredibly rare. I wouldn't change a thing really when it comes to it's signature. It seems out of the few dozen headphones i've owned, none of them have perfected my sound signature. The Q701 is as close as it gets for an open headphone. I don't think I could get the low bass of the DJ100 in an open headphone and still have forward mids and good treble.
 
You can get M50 pads for $20 now. The resulting sound and improvements may vary with how huge your ears are. I don't know if they'll sound the same for everyone.
 
Highly efficient? I don't know about that. That monster of a portable player the Clip+ (no joke) requires 90% volume with the DJ100. It needs 95-100% for classical or basically anything from Yo-Yo Ma that sounds very distant. I'll bet anyone $100 that if you used FLAC files you wouldn't get more than 5 hours from a Clip+ with the DJ100. It drains the batteries super fast.
 
What makes the KRK KNS-6400 better? More treble? Clearer? More detail? I like them as you know, but they're not very musical. Much thinner sounding than the DJ100 and not warm really at all. The DJ100 also has smoother treble and much more bass. The DJ100 only seems less detailed (IMO) due to having less treble and being bassier. Now the 8400 when modded is pretty close in sound quality to the DJ100. It actually has very, very good low bass extension. It's much more musical than the 6400, but does have a slightly dip somewhere in the mids.
 
The stock 8400 makes the DJ100 seem bass heavy! The DJ100's mids are nice and full sounding. Stock 8400...not so much, but good enough. Obviously neither are like an HD-600 (thankfully).
 
When you say Citiscape, do you mean the downtown? The on ear model? If so, i'll give you my impressions of it. I got a pair recently for $30 at Goodwill Thrift Store brand new new. It's incredibly dark, too bassy and it's lower mids are extremely shouty. I've found that inside the cup my pair didn't have these 4 tabs removed, but I don't know if it's supposed to or not. I removed them and it sounds slightly better (like it now has treble). I left a review of it here and gave it like a 2/5 for sound. I have a Koss UR-22v I bought for $20 a day later with Pearstone Velour pads that I like more. It's probably even better than the UR-55 and Porta Pro!! It has lots of treble for just a $20 headphone. It seems that the super cheap headphones either have too much bass or lack treble. Or sound extremely muffled.
 
Saying a headphone is warmer, more detailed and resolving AND with a bigger soundstage sounds weird. It seems like if a headphone was warmer than the DJ100 it would be much less detailed and fool the brain into thinking the soundstage is much smaller. This is what modding the HD-600 does. You make it less warm by reducing the mid and upper bass and it's more detailed, clearer and with a larger soundstage.
 
I get the downtown and uptown confused, so maybe you heard the uptown. I heard the downtown in the store and it sounded much clearer than the Uptown to me. Better with vocals too. The uptown sounded rather muffled, but it's probably just very warm. I never judge headphones too much by demos though. I just wish my Downtown sounded as good as the demo. Mine could have been a defect, but it was new. I paid $30, but it's basically un-listenable to me. Maybe my ears are not compatible with supra-aural headphones.

 

[Impulse]

Nobody is going to claim they're the best closed headphones under $300. I never said they were, but just based on sound signature preferences and what sounds good to ME. I'm not a believer that a $250 open headphone is magically better just because it's more expensive. Same with closed headphones. My point was that I haven't YET found one that sounds better to me that's closed. I'm sure it exists! It does seem there is not enough closed headphones.

When I listen to my Q701 and HD-600 and then immediately put on the DJ100 i'm not disgusted and it's not any worse. Just different. What does this mean? Not sure, but I could easily live without my other headphones. The reason I keep them is that I need an open headphone. Theres stuff I can hear on my DJ100 that's not very present at all on the others and the DJ100 has better bass extension.

Comparing the DJ100 to the HD-650 was some sort of sick joke to me. The whole time i'm thinking..these are $250 more..for this?! Yes, I like the HD-650. The $499 price tag is good for a laugh. Sorry if that hurts someone's feelings

It's only because it's not my type of signature.

Here's the thing though..I can't find any headphone that's closed under $300(!) I like more.
If you've seen my old very long list, i've tried maybe 2 dozen. Sure, some of them do things slightly better.
The K550 and SRH-940 didn't even hold up very well. D2000 isn't even really closed and not even remotely portable.

I'm not the least bit offended by your opinion, just slightly disappointed that I didn't like the DJ100 more after reading some of the praise heaped at it.

I think the way some of your previous posts in the thread are written can easily lead to people misunderstanding what you're getting at... (see above) Obviously it's all very subjective in the end but I think there's certainly other closed cans that do more than a few things better, then again I'm no expert and my experience with closed cans isn't very extensive. I'll leave it at that.

 

[Impulse]

I think I read there were already some knockoff Downtowns out there, kinda weird but it's another possibility behind your experience with those... They're the on ear versions btw, Uptowns are the around the ear ones... To me vocals on the Downtowns sounded much more defined than on the DJ100 and the extra bass didn't overshadow them much, if at all.

 

[mbamg]

Quote:

Hi,
 
No you are correct. The mids are colored in a way that makes female vocals sound a bit hollow. I've noticed that female and male vocals sound a bit pushed back, but guitars and other string instruments are more forward. It has nothing to do with amping them at all. 
 

 
Interesting to hear. Something to keep in mind when I try out other headphones.

 

[waynes world]

Quote:

Hi,
 
For $50? Easily the Sennheiser PX100-IIi. It's $50 on Amazon now and is worth it. They are 60Ohms, but are incredibly efficient. I highly recommend them.
 

 
Have you tried the carbon nanotube JVC HA-S500? At the moment you can only get them from Japan via ebay ($50 + $20 shipping). The reason I ask is because I have the PX100-II that cost me about the same as the S500. I really like the PX100-II (love the build quality, the comfort, portability and the SQ - great bass and very easy to listen to). But the S500 seems to be in a different league SQ-wise. Incredible sub-bass yet very controlled, amazing depth, but very detailed throughout. They are larger than the PX100-II and not quite as comfy, but the SQ is pretty amazing. Anyway, if you get a chance to check them out, I would be interested in your impressions.

 

[wje]

Quote:

For the record I never said I'd pay $300 for them, but just that i've yet to hear anything under $300 closed I like more. I'm on a mission to hear it, but i've had no luck. I will say it's my favorite headphone regardless of price. If I had to pick between all my headphones i'd keep this one. Well, the HD-600 is more comfortable. You would have to absolutely love every single thing about their signature for them to sound this good to you.
 
 

 
Have you had a chance to hear the closed Audio Technica ATH-AD900 headphones yet?  To me, they are quite a good sounding headphone.  I purchased the Koss Tony Bennett Duets from Tuesday Morning for $50.  I think for me, they are a great travel headphone, but maybe not a headphone that I'd reach for during my more frequent home listening sessions.  However, a lot of this also has to do with the preferences one has in their music.  If someone is desiring a very thick bass response, the Koss DJ100 or Tony Bennett edition might not be for them.  Then again, for me, comparing them to any other $50 dollar headphone would be hard to find something in that league, with the exception of a $40 refurbished Sennheiser HD-428 with the bass mods applied.  Now, that headphone with the mods, could please many bass-heads. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Hi,
 
No you are correct. The mids are colored in a way that makes female vocals sound a bit hollow. I've noticed that female and male vocals sound a bit pushed back, but guitars and other string instruments are more forward. It has nothing to do with amping them at all. 
 

 
(EDIT: this post sounds like i'm trying to argue, but I'm not I swear! You just got me talking about my favorite headphone. I get a little too excited sometimes with my opinions. Who doesn't?)

Hahah, you're joking right? Maybe you need to do more A/B comparisons with amping. Not trying to be rude but It has everything to do with amping and other people have said the same. You can check lJokerl's review too.
Vocals sounding hollow?  If anything male AND female vocals are pushed forward. Not so far enough to screw up a recording.
This is why I love them. They're slightly forward (like on a Grado SR-225) without being too annoying.
 
Here's the thing...with proper amping the mids become fuller sounding and more forward. It's not a case of the amp coloring the sound at all. You can check this with any dead neutral amp. The Clip+ sounds perfect with them because it's one of the few players that can drive them properly and at 100%. Even when adding an amp they improve further.
 
With some portable players the DJ100 can be thinner sounding, a little more harsh in the treble and the mids won't be as forward. Due to insufficient power. Kind of like a lack of control over it's sound signature. At least in some areas. Using these with my Iaudio 7 and portable cd player sucks the life out of them.
 
You should go back and do more A/B comparisons with amps. I've had these since 2010 and that entire time I've finally started using them without an external amp. The Clip+ is the only one that works well enough for me. Whenever I would listen to them without an external amp, they're just not the same. ANY amp is better than using them straight out of most portable players.
 
BTW if female vocals ever sound distant or hollow, please check them on another headphone. The DJ100 is true to the recording and won't ever shove them so far in your face to alter the recording that much. If I listen to specific Pearl Jam recordings it sounds as if Eddie Vedder's vocals are being drowned out. It's the recording and I verified this on my Q701 and HD-600. With M40 pads you can probably pinpoint each instrument and voice in inches. It's crazy how accurate these are with the ODAC and Micro Amp. The sound of these vary with the recording. Maybe you are criticizing the recording and not the headphone. No, that's not a joke

Even recordings I have can vary between sounding thin and harsh to very warm and full sounding. I haven't experienced this nonsense since I had the DT-880. On my HD-600 nearly everything sounds good.
 
Also..here's another thing for you.. when using them with a weak portable player you can play entire albums and they sound OK. You switch to another and then this is when it causes issues. The DJ100 will only sound under-powered with specific songs and frequencies. I know this sounds crazy, but I experience this all the time with my Airhead and my Q701. When I use my Q701 without an amp I limit myself to less complex music like vocal oriented music or ambient electronica. Classical on my Airhead and K601 pushes that amp to the limits. Can't turn it up past 75% I think. BTW I use FLAC files on my Clip+ and portable devices. I think these require much more power to play. I know that sounds impossible! I should load up 192kbps MP3 files on my weaker sources and see if I get different results.
 
I'll admit i'm trying to force myself to say they don't need an amp, but they do IMO to be at their best. Maybe i'll start saying they require a Clip+

You know there is a lot of crappy portable players out there...I had the original Zune once (not HD) and it never had enough volume for almost any of my headphones. So annoying and it ruined the experience.
 
EDIT:
 
Unrelated note, but I think the closest match to the DJ100 is the modded HD-600. It's close to what maybe an open DJ100 would sound like. The DJ100 sounds clearer though yet with more bass and more treble. The modded HD-600 is slightly more easy on the ears and more forgiving and warmer. The modded HD-600 is very different than the HD-600, so please don't think I just said the HD-600 is a clone of the DJ100

The DJ100 to me still is clearer and more detailed. Yeah...I just said that(!)

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

 
Have you had a chance to hear the closed Audio Technica ATH-AD900 headphones yet?  To me, they are quite a good sounding headphone.  I purchased the Koss Tony Bennett Duets from Tuesday Morning for $50.  I think for me, they are a great travel headphone, but maybe not a headphone that I'd reach for during my more frequent home listening sessions.  However, a lot of this also has to do with the preferences one has in their music.  If someone is desiring a very thick bass response, the Koss DJ100 or Tony Bennett edition might not be for them.  Then again, for me, comparing them to any other $50 dollar headphone would be hard to find something in that league, with the exception of a $40 refurbished Sennheiser HD-428 with the bass mods applied.  Now, that headphone with the mods, could please many bass-heads. 

You're funny! How did you know I was going to write about the ATH-A900X? I was wondering how those would sound. My friend on here thinks I would not like them and they'd have less bass than my DJ100. The graphs of them on Goldenears looks pretty good, but graphs don't always mean much to me.
 
I also always wanted to try out the W1000X or W1000, but i'm not rich. I absolutely loved the ATH-AD2000, but I sold it due to pads that went flat on me. That headphone can sound much worse on the wrong amp it seems like.
I basically memorized how amazing specific acoustic albums sounded on the AD2000 and no headphone has been able to recreate that. The Q701 got close.
 
Don't forget to check the sub-bass on the DJ100

I'll admit that the DJ100 doesn't sound like it has any sort of bass humps. Even the V6 SOUNDS like it has more bass. It's mid-bass even draws more attention to itself. Maybe this is why I don't like the V6? To my ears the DJ100 has more bass than the Q701 and HD-598. The major difference is that the DJ100 for me has better low bass extension.
 
It's funny to think that my DJ100 is the most bass heavy headphone I have except for the stock HD-600. That has more mid/upper bass and less low bass. I must be the only one in the world who is constantly annoyed by the HD-600's bass!
 
The two headphones I have that people often call bass-light actually have the most accurate bass and best low bass extension. Weird. Oh, that's the KNS-8400 and DJ100. Without mods the 8400 has less than neutral mid-bass I think. Even my DJ100 has more mid-bass (but perhaps less upper bass).

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Vocals (female) just sounded off to me when I tried out the DJ100 today, which is what made me suspect about how they were being driven and whatnot (in addition to the bass, tho I definitely didn't expect gobs of that based on reviews). I thought they had forward mids... Maybe it was a seal issue? I had glasses and a baseball cap on, not to mention long-ish hair and big ears... They were comfy tho, my ears touch a lot of the pad on the inside and whatnot but none of that really bothered me. OTOH they definitely didn't isolate well since nearby music made it hard to give them a good listen at one point. Can't say whether the Downtowns isolated any better tho since I don't think I had as much ambient noise going when I tried those.

 
People will probably think i'm pulling things out of nowhere, but I clearly remember one pair of DJ100s I had long ago. This was a 2nd pair after destroying my first (accidentally blew it's driver..oops)!
 
It seemed rather muffled with a lack of treble. Really bizarre. Those nice and clear mids did not even remotely sound forward (even with an amp).
 
This will probably be impossible for me to find, but in the old M50 vs DJ100 thread I was complaining about how awful this pair sounded. I was actually going to return it due to being a defect!
 
I let it sit in my drawer with obnoxious music playing for 8 hours each night for 3 days. It magically cleared up. Like crystal clear.
 
I think Zombie_X is the one who told me that the Titanium driver is probably very stiff and need to break in.

Burn in is stupid, but the DJ100 made me a believer of it.
 
My opinion is that if female vocals are not crystal clear, it's due to the recording, not enough amping or lack of burn in. Again, not all pairs need this. You don't need 100+ hours. Maybe 30 hours max.
 
I would like to eventually find a DJ100 that had this muffled sound too it. I'd immediately send both versions in to someone for measurements.
 
The pair I heard had this weird tin can like effect. Somewhat hard to describe. To make matters worse about a year later I had another pair that sounded like this. My latest Tony Bennett sounded amazing out of the box.
 
I also noticed recently that the sound clarity can often vary with the seal. This was after switching from M50 pads to stock pads for a week. I didn't realize this until I stretched the pads out. It makes no sense.
One day it'd sound amazing and then the next day..not so much. Maybe all the variations everyone has is due to stock pads. Who knows...
 
BTW I really do think that anyone who loves the KSC75 has to love these, so I'm surprised. I think they're closer to the KSC75 than the Porta Pro or UR-55. The Porta Pro probably has more mid-bass too which people love.

 

[Zombie_X]

Travis,
 
I never claimed you said they were $300, I was agreeing with the other user that they weren't worth that much. Also I'm not the only one who's heard this dip in the mids. I think it was beagle that heard it as well and it's obviously there. I'm not even going to argue as it's true, these have some odd dip that make vocals sound off. One thing that sounds good on these phones is Trans Siberian Orchestra. They sound great on here.
 
Now, I still stand by my statement about amping. They DO NOT need it. They sound great out of everything I have tried and amping has made minimal difference in the sound. Maybe some added tightness and focus to the bass, but it's not game changing. I know you feel strongly about it but I can not agree with it. My advise to members is try it without an amp and decide for yourself. 
 
The DJ100 is bass heavy to my ears. It easily has more bass than the 8400, which I own, and is not of the same quality. The 8400 may not have a ton of bass but it's exceptional quality for the price. To me the DJ100 sounds a tad muddy in the bass with roll off in the lower registers. It also has emphasized mid-bass and lower midrange. The treble is there but somewhat soft and lacks extension and detail.
 
If you're saying they are on par with the HD600 then that isn't the case. They are far below that. Sorry man but this headphone just isn't as good as you claim it is. It's not even about sound signature preference. I go by performance and if your are ranking in at $100, I'd say you give the headphone too much credit. These are exceptional for $50, great for $60, and overpriced at retail. That's just how it is. I'm not hating on them, but they get too much credit.
 
EDIT:
And the PRO4AAAT does have very rigid drivers and they sound stiff. I swear that titanium coating makes them sound like tin and this is the only case in which I somewhat believe in burn in. That stuff needs to flex. In theory it should flex, loosen up, and the sound should become smoother. At least it did for me. Not a whole lot but it did. 

 

[kana007]

Quote:

Vocals (female) just sounded off to me when I tried out the DJ100 today, which is what made me suspect about how they were being driven and whatnot (in addition to the bass, tho I definitely didn't expect gobs of that based on reviews). I thought they had forward mids... Maybe it was a seal issue? I had glasses and a baseball cap on, not to mention long-ish hair and big ears... They were comfy tho, my ears touch a lot of the pad on the inside and whatnot but none of that really bothered me. OTOH they definitely didn't isolate well since nearby music made it hard to give them a good listen at one point. Can't say whether the Downtowns isolated any better tho since I don't think I had as much ambient noise going when I tried those.

I disagree with you.  These headphones are exceptional for female and male vocals. I was blown away when listening to Jack Johnson or Annie Lennox.  My dj100s had to be broken in for 2 or  3 days for them to sound great. My Tony Bennetts sounded great out of the box.  I agree with TDock that they sound a little better with a headphone amp.  I have to turn the volume up to 95 percent on my ipod nano to make them sound good.

 

[jv92red]

My experience with the DJ100 TBSE aligns with what joker said in his review (link below).  I couldn't find better sounding circumaural cans for the $50 I paid.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/shootout-a-433318/